2001 Subaru Legacy — 3.0L

The 2001 Legacy records 81 complaints, eight recalls, and 155 TSBs — a notable inflection point where complaints continue a steady decline from the 1995 peak of 216, but recalls jump from four in 2000 and escalate further to 15 by 2003, while TSBs surge from 93 in 2000 and remain above 150 through 2004. The leading complaint categories for 2001 are Fuel System, Gasoline (14), Vehicle Speed Control (9), Tires (8), and Engine & Engine Cooling (8), with 12 crash-related and two fire-related complaints logged; the data does not specify root causes for these patterns. Compared with the prior generation years, 2001 sits at the start of a pronounced manufacturer service campaign phase rather than a consumer complaint spike, suggesting Subaru was actively addressing emerging issues through dealer bulletins and recalls. The subsequent 2002–2004 model years show even fewer complaints (49–62) but higher recall counts (11–15), indicating the 2001 fixes were part of a multi-year correction cycle. For a buyer, this means the 2001 benefits from early intervention but carries the highest recall count of the early-2000s cohort; verify all eight recalls were completed and prioritize examples with documented Fuel System and Vehicle Speed Control work. It is a reasonable purchase if recall compliance is confirmed, but not the cleanest year in the sequence.